Mockingbird
by OneAbsurdMentality
Summary: Atem has begun to ignore Yugi, and the signs of this lack of attention are terribly visible on the young hikari. Why is the ex-pharaoh ignoring his best friend now that he has his own body? And worse yet, why isn't Yugi questioning it himself? (Eventual Yugi/Yami; Predetermined Malik/Marik, Ryou/Bakura, and Joey/Seto) {TRIGGER WARNING INSIDE}
1. Dimming Light

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor do I own anything affiliated with it. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

I'm really tired right now, so I'm gonna leave this short and to the point. This story is sort of like my baby at this point in time. I adore Yugi, and I adore angst, so be prepared. (I also adore comfort.)  
>But... Yeah. This story is my stress reliever, and I'm using the knowledge I have on the subject to write it.<p>

**TRIGGER WARNING:** This story contains cutting, depression, and some type of eating disorder. Mentions of bullying/abuse, physical and mental, are present in this fiction. Please do not read this if it will trigger something for you, the last thing I want to have happen is to accidentally hurt someone with my story through a lack of information at the start of it.

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><p>Yugi looked up from his books. The small teen had been hunched over the thick chemistry book for countless hours, reading and rereading the chapters until he was positive he could recite it word for word. But this intense focus on his school work was costing him.<p>

The young hikari was pale, unnaturally so, his eyes were red with strain and sported large bags under them, and his clothes hung off his body at awkward angles. He hadn't been eating really. The thought of food made his stomach turn uneasily.

The unnatural focus on his school work had been brought on by the wave of loneliness and depression that had settled on him. Ever since the ceremonial battle, when Atem had decided to stay on Earth, Yugi had been hoping that his Dark would notice him in a more... Well, he wanted Atem to return the love he felt so dearly for his close companion.

But Atem had gone far on the other side of the spectrum. Upon being granted his own body, the former pharaoh had forgone any connection that he even had with his light. So much so in fact, that the dark appeared to be avoiding Yugi. The mind link, though still present, was shut tight on Atem's side, and try as he might, Yugi could not bypass it.

It felt... Cold to be disconnected from the one he cared about the most. His other half. His yami. After all they had been through, it felt disconcerting at the very least. When Atem began to ignore Yugi, the little hikari hadn't wanted to subject himself to the harsh reality that he faced while in the yami's presence. It was better, as bitter as it was, to be alone.

And he was alone. His friends, though he still cared for them, had become distant. Everyone wanted to get to know the newly resurrected pharaoh so badly that they had forgotten about the one who brought them all together. Yugi didn't blame them, it was partially his fault for avoiding them. They hung around Atem constantly, and the exhausted hikari couldn't bare to be with his cold indifference.

Yugi rubbed at his heavy, bleary eyes. He couldn't even see straight anymore, but still he refused to sleep. Sleep gave him nothing but night terrors, the shadows kept at bay by his yami free to reign when the light relaxed his defenses in sleep.

No, he couldn't risk falling unconscious at this point.

Restless violet eyes searched the clock on his desk to be greeted with bright blinking green numbers. Four A.M., the clock read with a mocking tone. It's four in the morning and you still can't do things that normal people can do. Like sleep. Hah! Weak little hikari.

Yugi groaned and rubbed at his head, pulling anxiously on a few strands of his golden bangs anxiously. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was weak. He knew, without any sort of hesitance, that he had never really been fit for the world he inhabited.

He knew what would help, too.

...

And trust me, part of himself still felt sick every time he thought of it.

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><p>I do hope you've enjoyed the first chapter. I felt detached while writing this, so please excuse the writing style if it seems too vague for you at the moment.<br>Reviewing motivates me and keeps me writing, because it makes me feel like what I write matters. If you drop by and leave a follow, favorite, or review, it makes a writer's day!

~OneAbsurdMentality


	2. Ravaged Soul

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor anything affiliated with it. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

Another day, another chapter. Thank you everyone who Reviewed, Favorited, or Followed this story, it really did make my day.

This is filler, another piece of the puzzle. it is important to the future, but you may be disappointed in it. I personally enjoy it, but I'm not sure if it's what I was going for... Hm. Thoughts are welcome.

**TRIGGER WARNING:** This story contains cutting, depression, and some type of eating disorder. Mentions of bullying/abuse, physical and mental, are present in this fiction. Please do not read this if it will trigger something for you, the last thing I want to have happen is to accidentally hurt someone with my story through a lack of information at the start of it.

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><p>Yugi sat there for a moment more, blurry gaze wavering as he tried to once again focus upon the words imprinted on the pages. He couldn't. He was too far gone at this point, too exhausted to do anything more then sigh in frustration and rub at his eyes again.<p>

A few minutes, he would close his eyes for a few minutes to rest them and go right back to studying. The young man folded his arms upon the opened text book and laid his head down, his eyes slipping shut almost instantly. He was just so... Tired...

_Blackness. Yugi blinked and stared hard at the shadows around him, his natural light enveloping his small body from where he sat on the intangible floor in an effort to shield him from the reaching, grasping tendrals of darkness. It didn't matter, his light was burnt at the edges, and stained an odd shade of crimson, as though it were bleeding. The shadows that were so carefully packed away by his other self had been preying on the young hikari for as long as they had been kept unchecked. Specifically, ever since the Ceremonial Duel, four months ago._

_The effects on his light energy were just physical manifestations of the constant barrage of darkness, both from within himself, and outside._

_"No, no, no, no, no..." Yugi muttered under his breath, his violet eyes filling with moisture, dripping down his face while the shadows ravaged the already damaged edges of his light._

_There was no hope. There was no escape. They were destroying him, and there was nothing that could be done to save him._

_"Wake up Yugi, come on." He talked to himself, ignoring the harsh burning as though the dark was searing his very soul, and in a way it was, and focusing his efforts on becoming alert once more._

_It had been harder and harder to wake up recentally, like the shadows were blocking his escape until they had devoured every bit of what precious of his energy was left. Though, he supposed quietly, it would be easier to let them do that. What an idea, why didn't he let them swallow him up?_

_Yugi might not ever wake up again. A small, strained smile curled his lips at that as his shoulders shook with sobs. Why not let it happen? Why was he even fighting it?_

_He had no one left to fight for, after all. Maybe it was time to end it..._

An audible screech sounded and Yugi's eyes flew open as the sound subsided and he found himself to be sitting with his head on his chemistry book. The harsh pants coming from him shook his whole bodice, and he squeezed his eyes shut before standing and shaking the dizziness from his mind.

He needed... He needed... Those damned voices swirled around and whispered in his ears, like they always did after he slept. He needed silence!

Yugi's hand automatically opened his desk drawer and felt the razor that was in plain sight. He grasped it, tears dripping from oddly vacant eyes, and carefully drew it along his left wrist upon pulling back his sweatshirt sleeve.

Sharp metal grating and pulling at tender skin, one more cut to add to the row, crimson blood seeping and leaking slowly down the curved surface and spilling over raised scar tissue.

Two lips parted, almost in reverence, as the pain washed over him. Pain to cancel out pain, it was funny how the world worked, wasn't it? Smiling faces couldn't cancel out the soul aching sorrow he felt, but the unforgiving razor could.

He almost didn't want to hide the scars.

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><p>So... Yeah. Hope you enjoyed. I have to say, writing this is giving me slight issues. I always get so involved in what I write I start to feel it. But don't worry, I know my limits. :)<p>

Reviewing, Favoriting, and Following a writers work makes their day.

~OneAbsurdMentality


	3. Ties From Afar

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor do I own anything affiliated with it. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

**TRIGGER WARNING:** This story contains cutting, depression, and some type of eating disorder. Mentions of bullying/abuse, physical and mental, are present in this fiction. Please do not read this if it will trigger something for you, the last thing I want to have happen is to accidentally hurt someone with my story through a lack of information at the start of it.

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><p>Cleaning and taking care of the cut Yugi had made on his skin took time, effort, and a high pain tolerance. Finally the bandage was wrapped snugly around his pale, thin left arm and the small hikari could focus on other, more important things.<p>

The clock by the well used chemistry book blinked green numbers at him from behind scratched glass. 7:00 in the morning, he noted this, not wanting to be late to school. He should get ready, his grandfather liked to make breakfast for him and Atem around 7:45, but he had been skipping it recently, grabbing the meal and going out the door to toss it in the trash when he got to school. He wasn't hungry very often anymore.

Yugi moved to his closet and opened the wooden doors, peering into the rather dusty gloom. His clothes all hung neatly on their hangers, clean and perfect, just like the rest of his room. The order gave him some peace of mind when he was in the small space. He tugged at his school uniform and it fell off the hanger.

Spending so much time on school was a welcome distraction, some people had reading, others had writing, and even drawing. He had his school work. The need to excel drove him forward in his studies, and he enjoyed flooding his brain with new bits of information. It helped drive out everything else.

The only problem with actually being present at school was the fact that he was just so exhausted. Leaving his room and going downstairs took most of his energy, staying out all day was almost impossible. What was waiting for him there anyhow? Bullies who enjoyed hurting him and those who tired to avoid him.

Yugi finished getting ready, pulling on his over shirt over his black t-shirt and leaving it unbuttoned, and grabbing his bag, flinging it over his shoulder. The hikari readied himself to go downstairs, running a hand through his damp, spiked, tri-colored hair. Moisture tended to cling onto his hair when he took a shower, something he noted with some annoyance.

He had just opened his door when a ring from his cell phone startled him in the silence of the morning. Yugi fished it out of his pocket, considered it warily, and finally answered it, pausing in the open doorway to hold it up to his ear.

"Hello Yugi!" The cheerful, British voice that filtered through the line made Yugi smile softly.

"Ryou, how are you?" Yugi asked, glancing at the clock and deciding he could take a few minutes to talk with his friend. He set his bag back down and perched on the edge of his bed.

There was a moment of silence, then random crinkling sounded, before his fellow hikari responded.

"Oh good, good." Ryou sounded faint, as though he was moving away. "Oh Ra!" There was a crash and a shout from Bakura in the background, and then Ryou's panicked voice was back, much to Yugi's confusion. Just what was going on over there? Knowing Bakura, nothing good.

"Hang on for a moment Yugi, Bakura just started a fire in the kitchen!"

Yugi opened his mouth to reply, but the sounds of soft lecturing and loud protests sounded and he decided that Ryou was already too far to hear him if he did. He waited in silence, wincing at the loud noises that occasionally filtered through. Finally, Ryou's voice came closer once more.

"Just throw away the burnt food, I'll make breakfast 'Kura-" His attention turned back to the male on the other end of the line with an exasperated tone.

"Sorry about that, Yugi. Bakura's trying to learn how to cook and he keeps getting upset, which leads to fires, or stuff breaking, or- Ah, I'm rambling." Ryou chuckled, "But anyway, how are you?" He asked his friend.

Yugi hesitated, wondering what he should tell his close companion. He and the other hikari's had stayed close, and thus their darks did as well, so whenever Yugi felt down, he could always count on them to be there for him. But... They didn't know how bad it really was. Not that they could, they could only know what Yugi told them, after all.

Ryou and Bakura, upon being given a second chance by the gods, had decided to move back to Ryou's home country, England. Marik had been given a second chance as well, but though Malik was concerned, it appeared that all of his yami's madness had been eaten away by the Shadow Realm. Well... Not all, just most of it. The two Egyptians had moved back to their home country when prompted by Ishizu and Odion, thinking that it would be best to start over in the place where it all began, and come to grips with a lot of things.

So they were no longer living in Japan, and Yugi felt this loss of companionship greatly. Sure he could talk to them over the phone or on the computer, but it wasn't the same as real-life interaction, and occasionally made him feel more alone then ever when they had to leave the call or chat.

Yugi snapped back to attention when Ryou called his name. He had wandered off into his thoughts again. He shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Um, actually Ryou, I have to go, I'm going to be late to school if I wait around much longer. I'm sorry." Yugi apologized lamely. He hated lying to his friend, but he didn't want to tell him the truth either. So he made up an excuse that was partially true.

"Oh right!" Ryou exclaimed. "I'm sorry for keeping you, Yugi. I'll talk to you later tonight, yeah?" The British voice filtered through the phone and Yugi nodded.

"Yeah, I'll give you and Malik a call."

"Alright then, ta!"

The call ended. Yugi closed his phone and stuffed it back into his pocket. He didn't want them to worry, he didn't want anyone to worry. He pulled his shirt sleeves over his hands a bit more and clutched at them, making sure his scars, and the bandages, were covered.

Little did he know that a certain Egyptian woman far away was discussing her worries about a vision with her younger brother, and they were slowly drawing the conclusion that not all was as well as Yugi had made it seem in Japan.

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><p>Reviewing motivates me and keeps me writing, because it makes me feel like what I write matters. If you drop by and leave a follow, favorite, or review, it makes a writer's day!<p>

~OneAbsurdMentality


	4. Hikari Bright

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything affiliated with it. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

Thank you for all the amazing reviews!  
>I know this is rather short, but it seemed a lot longer in my files.<br>Sorry.

Aibou = Partner  
>Hikari = Light<br>Yami = Dark  
>Miso Soup = A type of soup used for breakfast in Japan.<br>Steamed Rice = Also a well known breakfast food in Japan.

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><p>Yugi made his way downstairs, shrugging his backpack off at the end of the stairs and depositing it on a small chair that rested to the side and leaned against the wall. He paused for a moment, wondering why, as he did every time that he passed by, that chair was there.<p>

As he stood there, pondering something that didn't really require pondering, the smell of miso soup* and steamed rice* filtered into the hall he stood in, catching his attention and causing his stomach to growl.

In response to the ache in his stomach, Yugi tore his wandering mind from the oddly placed chair and slipped farther down the hallway, taking the first door to the left and entering the kitchen. He almost drooled at the sight of the miso soup in the porcelain bowl, and the steaming white rice on the plate next to it. Warm sunlight drifted in through the open windows, giving the room a hazy, peaceful feeling. For the first time in weeks, Yugi actually felt like he wanted to eat.

The young hikari pulled back the chair closest to him and sat down in it, looking at the other table setting across from him.

/Atem must have left early,/ Yugi concluded, picking up his spoon. His grandfather always ate at this time, so the other bowl and plate must be for him. With this in mind, Yugi filled the dip in the silverware to the brim with broth and sipped it.

He felt sick. The minute the soup was inside his mouth it almost made him gag, despite being rather bland and very easy on one's stomach. He forced himself to swallow the liquid, shuddering as it slid down his throat.

Yugi scooted his bowl and plate away from him a bit, the smell that had called him into the room now nausiating. He sighed softly, and rested his head on his arms. There, with the sunlight streaming in through the window, he felt oddly peaceful. He was exhausted, and for once, he felt he could rest easy.

Yugi was so calm and zoned out, he didn't hear his yami enter the room. And with heavy violet eyes having slipped shut, he didn't even notice that someone had sat across from him. Didn't, that is, until Atem cleared his throat quietly.

The hikari froze. His eyes slowly opened up, flickering to the form of his yami and halting there. Atem offered up a small, almost sheepish smile as Yugi lifted his head, confusion written on his face.

It was like that for several minutes. Silence, broken only by breathing. They stared at one another, hardly blinking, and the food lay untouched, cooling as they looked at each other in something almost akin to wonder, unmoving. They were acting as though they were afraid to move, as though if they did, whatever spell had been cast would be broken and one would stand and leave, suddenly awoken to what he was doing.

Atem broke the silence first.

"Good morning, Yugi." The deep baritone voice entered the room quietly, a low rumble in the previously silent room.

The aforementioned startled, blinking at the other. Atem was talking to him? They probably hadn't even exchanged any words since... A weak bit of hope stirred in Yugi's chest. Maybe his yami had realized that he had been ignoring him?

As soon as the small hope had flared it was extinguished by a heavy blanket of sorrow and discouragement. Surely not. Atem was probably being polite, nothing more. Yugi certainly wouldn't blame him if he was. How stupid was he to think, even for a moment, that Atem might have become interested in him again.

"Morning," Yugi responded, his small voice almost to soft to hear as he tried to hide the hurt flashing on his face from his own thoughts. Despite this, he was unable to tear his eyes away from the soft crimson of the other.

"Did you like the soup?" Atem asked, breaking the eye contact for a moment to glance down to the hardly touched bowl. His gaze returned almost as quickly as it had left, leaving Yugi scrambling for his words. The only reason he would ask that would be... If he made it himself. realization dawned on the hikari and he felt guilt burn deep in his stomach. He didn't really eat, his yami must think he hated it.

"Yes, it is very good Atem, thank you." Yugi forced himself to smile as he nibbled on some rice, choking it down though his stomach rebelled and attempted to push it back up.

Atem nodded with a faint smile.

"Of course, aibou. I asked your grandfather to teach me." The ex-pharaoh blinked, thinking of the many burns and attempts he had made to send the cooking supplies to the shadow realm. All for this moment, to make Yugi breakfast so he wouldn't feel trapped and so he could ease into this conversation.

Because Atem knew his aibou was suffering. He wasn't sure why, but he wasn't going to let him face it on his own anymore. And whether Yugi liked it or not, he was going to get to the bottom of this.

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><p>Hope you enjoyed.<p>

Stopping by to review, watch, or favorite a story makes a writer's day!

~OneAbsurdMentality


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